Monday, May 31, 2010

With multiple flags at half staff, small fluttering flags adorning the graves of veterans, and an honor guard standing with rifles at their sides, members of the Swinomish Tribal Community honored loved ones for their military service and sacrifice with song and drumming in a moving Memorial Day tribute under rainy skies at the Swinomish Cemetery. I came upon this holiday observance across the waterway from La Conner, WA. A little postcard for you from my recent wanderings a bit north of Seattle.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Every Memorial Day weekend Seattle Center becomes home to the wildly popular Northwest Folklife Festival. It is non-stop music and performances from morning to night from Friday through Monday. Admission is free, with a suggested $10 per day donation gladly accepted. Whole families go for multiple days, teens and young adults hang out with friends and enjoy all the offerings, and every roots, Americana, ethnic, string, post-punk acoustic, dance troop, bluegrass, storytelling, accordion toting band known to humans makes a trek here to play the many venues and have a great time. These performers were arriving when I caught them in a sweet spot of reflected light at last year's festival. I was out of town this year, but can't wait to hear and see some clips folks are sharing on the web.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

I was honored that my photoblogging friends Maya and Janet asked me to take some shots as they took a big step and formally registered their domestic partnership in the state capital of Olympia. One of the brides is photo-shy of appearing on blogs (like me), so I thought this shot of their spiffy shoes as they took this step Friday on their road to domestic bliss would be fun. They have been in town to take care of a zillion details of permanently consolidating households before heading back to France where they have both lived and worked this past year. They met through our photoblog community (Maya's Seattle-based independent blog was listed in my sidebar and may be how Janet, also listed in my sidebar as a CDPBlog covering Washington, DC, found her. Whatever the details of how they met through photoblogging, these two talented photographers are very happy. When their friends say they met on the internet, they have to clarify. . .it wasn't a dating site, but their involvement in a community of friendly photobloggers from around the world that brought them together. How cool is that!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

This urban umbrellascape on the tiered terraces of a curved business building created a nice abstract. I liked the stripey graphic quality of the window reflections, railings, and stony granite looking sections of the edifices. Rain or shine, Seattle is readying for the long Memorial Day Weekend, the kick off to summer in earnest and the gigantic 39th annual Northwest Folk Life Festival that starts tomorrow at Seattle Center.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Oh my! Blame it on vacation! I forgot it was Wednesday and therefore, iPhone Wednesday. So I am adding my iPhone shot after already posting another photo (I had breakfast and a second cup of coffee and finally became cognisant of where I was in time :-) ). Here is my iPhone shot of last night's Whidbey Island delight, Penn Cove Mussels served in a light broth with shallots, garlic, lemon and cream, and eaten within sight of Penn Cove! They were absolutely wonderful and lived up to the world class culinary reputation these Puget Sound mullusks have garnered for themselves. It's my iPhone shot for this week where the image is taken and edited with the iPhone and available apps.

That was on Whidbey last night, now on to our bonus shot taken earlier in Seattle! These 26 turtles (yes, I counted :-) ) sitting on logs floating among lily pads in Greenlake were taking advantage of the last sun of the day, as it started raining soon afterward and my walk turned into a run :-). They briefly had their little islands in the sun. That was my intention this morning. I'm on Whidbey Island, a quick ferry ride north of Seattle, but we won't see the sun until later today.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I was walking in the Beacon Hill neighborhood and from quite a distance couldn't miss this bright wooden building. These colors are straight out of the camera, and the building is three stories tall, so you can imagine what an impression the edifice makes in person. As I got closer the shape of that upper window captured my attention, and then I saw details that indicated this is a church building (note the cross on the chimney). Then that Dylan song "Everything Is Broken" started going through my head as I noticed the many areas of disrepair. This building's southern exposure sure has taken a beating. I'm wishing the church well in being able to get things repaired in these tight economic times. They certainly have a very distinctive building at the top of Beacon Hill.

I did a little repair and sprucing up of SDP's appearance for you :-). Making its debut in the new design is an illustration that the very talented and whimsical Shell Sheree surprised me with over a year ago. We both love cats and special cities! Please click on the little Space Needle Kitty to visit Shell's other wonderful website.

Also, It turns out that the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park will be hosting some very fun special summer activities and exhibits this year. I was so pleased that they inquired a couple weeks ago to use my photo, "Barefoot Afternoon," on the front page of their website for OSP's "Get Out" summer events. I just saw that it is up and you can see it here. I am a SAM member and a huge, huge fan of its Olympic Sculpture Park, so its very fun for me to see my shot fit so well into their cool design.

Monday, May 24, 2010

It is gorgeous outside and the streets are busy with people enjoying the beautiful break in the storm and the clear skies and city lights. There are lots of "Lost" parties winding down all over Seattle now after the airing of the last show ended a bit ago. Would that the ending was as clear as the night vision outside. :-) People will be reflecting on all the story elements and the way six years of interwoven tales on the popular television series finally resolved. This is the view of the city skyline from across Lake Union.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

There are actually three bridges in view here, the tallest and longest is the West Seattle Bridge which spans the east and west branches of the Duwamish Waterway and the southern tip of Harbor Island. This is the main route to West Seattle. The lower bridge to the right is the East Duwamish Waterway Bridge which is the main freight route for Harbor Island as well as a good route for bicyclists heading to West Seattle. It just underwent major restoration last year. The third bridge you'll have to look closely to see. It is a railroad bridge in the raised position just visible to the far left. When lowered, it carries trains from West Seattle to Harbor Island. Harbor Island was once the world's largest man-made island, created in 1908. It divides the Duwamish river into two forks that enter Elliott Bay. This conjunction of the waterway and the bay and the industrial areas along its shores are a super fund clean up site, one of the major issues confronting Seattle. This area houses many types of industry that employ thousands of Seattlites and bring in billions of dollars to our city. The car bridges are on a direct route to the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which is another major challenge facing Seattle. It must be replaced due to age and earthquake damage, but new plans have proven controversial, contentious, and no clear way forward after several years of public votes and tussles between city and state government to create a workable, affordable plan.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

This is a drive by shooting of the Utilikilts storefront in Pioneer Square. I just happened to catch mannequins in kilts and a woman passing by in slacks. As I drove by I suddenly remembered that tomorrow is the Great Kilted 5K Run at Magnuson Park. Luckily the light turned red so I could capture this scene, as I can't get over to shoot that event. I imagine more than a few of the kilted runners will be attired in Seattle's answer to what the well dressed dude might wear for hard work or recreation. You may have seen photos I posted a few years ago of these rugged versions of the ancient plaid garb usually reserved only for formal wear these days. Even though Utilikilts are utilitarian, they are not cheap, and you will not find them made from your family's wool plaid :-). More likely heavy twill or even leather, and usually accompanied by a thick pair of Doc Martins or the like. Think post punk artist/craftsman/chef/musician/metal smith/outdoors-man type of guy lifting a brew at the local tavern and you'll have the vibe. Good luck and lots of fun to all the runners tomorrow!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Yesterday the Queen Anne Farmers Market opened for the first time this year. We were nearby and walked over as vendors were setting up. In drove the distinctively different colossal street food truck, Maximus Minimus. It's license plate reads "Some Pig," and it is. Here the driver and cook gives a wave. The menu is short on items, long on quality (sweet or spicy pulled pork or veggie sandwiches, doctored with Beecher's Handmade Cheese if you like, house-made slaw, house-made chips and house made hibiscus or lemonaide iced drinks). Thus the name. To see what I had to eat and for lots more photos of the Queen Anne Farmers Marke kick off for 2010, please check out my More Seattle Stuff page and my Flickr site.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

A new play will open Friday (with a discounted preview today) at the Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse on Greenlake. I thought several Francophile Friends (you know who you are) and dear Eric in Paris might enjoy the Paris reference. A postal carrier was just entering the door as I was walking past, and it was starting to rain.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Last October a large commercial building on 85th Street that housed four popular businesses in the heart of the Greenwood neighborhood burned due to an arson fire (my photo of the fire trucks here). After the building was raised a plywood wall went up along the site and a very long colorful mural was painted on it. This is a small portion of the mural I snapped with my iPhone as I was walking by. It depicts a Phoenix rising from the ashes. The arsonist, a mentally ill homeless man had set several other fires in the neighborhood, terrorizing merchants and homeowners and caused one man to be severely burned after lighting his home ablaze. The arsonist had a long history of similar offenses and jail time and pleaded guilty to charges last month, receiving a 30 year prison sentence. Some of the small businesses have relocated or found temporary digs, and surrounding businesses affected by smoke and water damage have cleaned up and are operating again, like Taproot Theater. Just around the corner this past Friday and Saturday the neighborhood held its 15th Annual Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk where 65 businesses became mini-art galleries displaying juried works in many media along the Greenwood /Phinney Avenue commercial corridor from 63rd Street to 87th Street. With the beautiful weather the Avenue was alive with neighbors strolling and enjoying the sunshine, art displays, and performers. You can see photos and videos here.

It's my iPhone Wednesday shot for this week, where I take and edit the image using just an iPhone and available apps.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

For years we dreamed of finding a loft in a converted industrial or commercial building, someplace where we could have studio and living space combined. Here is new construction designed by architect Philip Christofides that I spied while on a walk through the Columbia City neighborhood. It brings those elements together on a small scale in an eight unit three story live/work space townhouse sort of arrangement, with garden decks on the roof. Still nothing we could probably afford, but fun to see none the less. I would have liked to have seen the interiors and found this article with some photos included. The opposite side of the development faces the street and has retail spaces. Does your city have these sorts of developments that might appeal to creative people? And no, that's not Chuck on the red Vespa :-).

Monday, May 17, 2010

I just learned my friend Mitchell won an Emmy for his score for the four part television documentary, "Saving the Bay." Although he's a USC grad, I thought I'd salute him as well his fabulously talented fam of wonderful vocalists, Laurel, MacKenzie (Withworth!!!), and Emma, with these shots I took of the University of Washington's School of Music. Here's to all the musicians, composers, songwriters, and singers, who grace our lives with such richness and beauty.

The UW School of Music sits directly opposite and mirrors the buildings of the School of Art at the top of the Quad. I took these shots in the warm glow of a spring sunset.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

I've often noticed this graceful suspension pedestrian bridge that spans busy Westlake Avenue from a busy lakeside marina to a steep uphill residential and commercial development. In this top view I'm looking east across Lake Union to East Lake and Capitol Hill. For several more views and to see the whole bridge, visit my More Seattle Stuff page here.
You can visit all of Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridges participants here.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Elliott Bay Cafe remains in situ despite the departure to new digs in Capitol Hill of the world famous Elliott Bay Book Company upstairs. "EBC still open here" read the signs in the window at street level. Check out Chuck's fine photos of Elliott Bay Book Company's grand opening in CH here. Elliott Bay Cafe, the below-street-level cafe under the bookstore that inspired the set for the Frasier TV series' "Cafe Nervosa" continues on just below the sidewalk. So if you're jonesing for caffeine or craving a delicious lunch while in the Pioneer Square area, your old fix is still available.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Wow. I hadn't planned on posting another photo of this, but since every commenter yesterday panned the architecture of the unfinished buildings of the new Amazon.com campus in the Cascade / South Lake Union neighborhood, I thought it only fair to show a shot of one of the finished buildings in the development. Perhaps when the detail work is complete on all the buildings the design will not seem as severely lacking as the impression you got from the distance photos of the partially constructed structures. Then again. . . :-). You like the dog, right? The dog's cute. Admit it! :-).

This is a west elevation along Terry Street and the pedestrian is crossing over the streetcar tracks. Thanks to Joshua for this link which explains the architect's intention for the buildings to imitate the feel of an historic warehouse being preserved across Terry Street. We continue today and tomorrow with clear blue skies and 75 F temps. Hope you are having an equally fine start to a lovely weekend.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

As promised, here are photos of the many buildings under construction for the new headquarters of the giant online purveyor of nearly everything, Amazon.com. The 11 building campus is taking shape along four blocks in the South Lake Union / Cascade neighborhood. The neighborhood's skyline has developed rapidly in the the past few years with the vision of developing it as a hub for biomedical research and internet technology industries. Amazon.com developed a highly successful system for electronic retail purchasing and direct shipping that is used by many retailers.

The campus is on the two year old Seattle Streetcar route and faces Lake Union Park (under final stages of development to the left in this image), the Center for Wooden Boats and the Navel Reserve Building seen in the foreground of this image I took of earlier progress on the Amazon campus.
The top photo below shows the northernmost buildings of the campus, and the next photo shows the buildings going up on the blocks south of that. The final shot shows the other side of the buildings in yesterday's photo. Amazon.com is a major employer in Seattle and began last month to move workers into the three buildings of the completed first phase of the campus on Terry Street (here's local neighborhood coverage and a photo of the public plaza and tile art by local artist Ann Gardner). The completed phase is visible in the foreground of the second photo below. As the next two phases are completed I imagine all of Amazon's Seattle workforce will leave their leased spaces in Beacon Hill and the International District and elsewhere will move to the new global headquarters, slated to have phase 3 completed in 2013.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A few weeks ago I showed you a distance shot of South Lake Union from Gas Works Park to the north in which you could see some of the giant new campus of Amazon.com being erected which spans four city blocks. Here is a closer look at some of the multiple buildings in this project as seen from the south. I took this with my iPhone, and tomorrow I'll show you some shots of the entire site I took with my real camera :-) and a long lens from a nearby hill to give you an overview of the entire campus and its various stages of completion to date. as you can see, it was blue skies with clouds yesterday and nearly 70 F.

It's my iPhone Wednesday shot for you where the image and any editing is done all in the iPhone using one or more available apps.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Spring blossoms continue to grace nearly every scene in Seattle, despite cooler temps and mostly cloudy skies. I took this shot including the Space Needle from Bhy Kracke Park. I wanted to show you the 25 story apartment building to the far left which is swaddled head to toe with scaffolding. It is the 9 year old McGuire Apartments in Belltown, and unbelievably was found to have such severe deterioration that it has been deemed unrepairable and is slated for demolition due to construction materials defects. My heart goes out to the many floors of residents who must relocate, and to the businesses which lease space there. This is a highly unusual occurrence and it makes my head spin just to think of the lawsuits involving contractors and subcontractors who worked on this project and the many years it will take to process all the levels of loss on a fiasco like this. I am wishing everyone involved well, and just can't imagine the enormity of the situation. I'm hoping the many other Belltown developments that have shot up in the last decade are not subject to similar bad news.

Monday, May 10, 2010

A trio of Seattle's taller glass building facades reflect the cloud-filled skies and buildings about them. The Russell Investments Center/Museum Plaza is the tallest one to the left (formerly Washington Mutual Center), 1521 Second Avenue in the center of the shiny trio, completed just two years ago, and the angled dark twins lovingly known by locals as the Darth Vader Building is officially called the Fourth and Blanchard Building.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

No, this isn't Seattle :-). Here's a little travel postcard for you from Southern California where I'm on holiday with family. My daughter and I got to spend a rare couple of hours shopping together and I thought you might like to see this dramatic pedestrian bridge which curves high above street level at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. This is the Bridge of Gardens and, as the name indicates, there is an abundance of vegetation growing along the long and graceful expanse. This bright bouganvilla along the exterior is the same color as the one my mom trained to grow over the arbor leading to my childhood home's front door, and the green box hedge growing just inside the railings (can you see it?) is the same as the hedge mom planted around the perimeter of the front yard. Fun to see them translated for use in this space. I am wishing all the moms out there a very happy Mother's Day today, and to everyone lots of lovely recollections of happy times spent with your moms. To see all the participants inLouis la Vache's Sunday Bridge Series, click here.

Saturday, May 08, 2010

Clouds aren't the only things that seem to have silver linings. The whole of the Seattle skyline, viewed here from Bhy Kracke Park, looks silvery to me. I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Saturday in a less monotone setting :-). I'm in Southern California at present where it is sunny and warm and, well. . .bright and colorful!

Friday, May 07, 2010

Three broadcast towers dwarf the Capitol Hill neighborhood on a gray rainy day. They are a dominant feature on the Seattle skyline. To see skies from other cities around the globe, see Skywatch Friday.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Built for the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, Seattle's Monorail travels a 1.2 mi (1.9 km) elevated route from Seattle Center to Westlake Center in the heart of the downtown shopping core. Here it is returning to its home base on the former World's Fair campus and will pass right through the undulating "melting guitars" roof of the colorful Experience Music Project. Just five years ago plans were seriously afoot to significantly expand the monorail system, but were nixed. You can read about that here.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

It's the postcard view of the Seattle skyline taken with toy camera abandon. It is my iPhone Wednesday shot for you where the image is created and edited on the iPhone 3G. This was made with the Hipstamatic app.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

At the concert venue in Olympia [see yesterday's post] I had parked my car and wandered through a colorful alley to the rear of the building. It was obviously frequented by street artists and came out onto the side entrance marked "Backstage." There were giant salmon swimming up the alley. For a couple more shots, please see my More Seattle Stuff page.

Monday, May 03, 2010

Long a favorite of Seattlites, frequently selling out shows and having a loyal following here, Canadian musician and songwriter Bruce Cockburn straddled the Emerald City this weekend but didn't play here. Instead he opted for more intimate venues 2 hours north and south of here, on Friday in the state capitol of Olympia and on Saturday up near the border in Bellingham. I am a longtime fan and headed down to Olympia (Hi Don and Krise!). I had such a good time, enjoyed the concert from my comfy seat in the Capitol Theater (primarily a film venue), ran into several friends there and got to see a little bit of Olympia's cute downtown which was full of university students and other folks out on the town at nearby restaurants and other close by venues. Visit Don and Krise's Olympia Daily Photo blog for a taste of Washington's lovely capitol.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

This pedestrian bridge at the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park features the work of artist Teresita Fernández embedded between two panes of glass along a covered walkway. The clouds she photographed and colored to form the transparency interrupted by clear dots were actually clouds in Miami. . .but, hey, the art work is in Seattle :-). I loved the way the sunlight coming through carried the colors and spots to the structure, creating even more patterns and illusions. It is a very fun structure to interact with. To see my photo of this bridge in the deep of night with a train speeding underneath, click here. To see all the participants in Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridge Series, click here.

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Seattle is big on art and sculpture, but in thinking of this theme I realized it has fairly slim pickings when it comes to bona fide statues that honor historical figures, events and ideals. Over the years I've featured photos of all those I'm familiar with such as the statues of Chief Sealth near Seattle Center, Jimi Hendrix on Broadway, Lady Liberty in West Seattle, the Firefighters Memorial in Occidental Square, J.P. Patches in Fremont, even the rescued statue of Stalin Lenin hauled here from a scrap heap in Russia by a man now deceased and displayed in the heart of the Fremont neighborhood. (Thanks Bibi!) There are some lovely statues of Camels outside the Asian Art Museum and some amazing memorial statues in the historic cemeteries, and, like I said, lots and lots and lots of sculptures in public places--but statues, not so much. So, I thought I'd feature one of the most well loved and well known statues in Seattle, that of Rachel the Pig at Pike Place Market. Her story is here. I've seen all kinds of people having a photo op with her, from children to entire bridal parties. She's actually a giant piggy bank into which visitors can place donations for the Market Foundation. I'm sure you will find statues of the historic and famous if you check out these other theme day photos from around the world. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.